1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of starting a reluctance motor, having a rotor and a stator, by means of a suitable energising current, the rotor and/or the stator being constructed in such a way that the rotor has pairs of positions of stable equilibrium, each consituted by a first and a second position of stable equilibrium and corresponding pairs of positions of unstable equilibrium, each constituted by a first and a second position of unstable equilibrium.
The invention also relates to an electronic circuit and a reluctance motor.
2. Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,182 (herewith incorporated by reference) describes a method of starting a single-phase reluctance motor by applying current pulses to the stator windings. The amplitude and duration of the pulses are selected in such a way that periodically a part of the stator is magnetically saturated and the rotor oscillates about a position of equilibrium with increasing amplitude until it is set into rotation. A disadvantage of this known method is that starting of the motor proceeds comparatively slowly, inter alia because current pulses with a repetition rate of 1 Hz are utilized.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,262 (herewith incorporated by reference) discloses a method of starting a reluctance motor in which during starting of the motor a plurality of successive current pulses with a repetition rate of 1 Hz is applied to the stator windings, at least a part of the rotor being magnetically saturated. By means of the applied energy the rotor is caused to oscillate until it assumes a position in which it is possible to exert a positive torque on the rotor, so that it is started in the desired direction.